Plant by the phase of the MOON and North South rows.

[Gary350]

Does anyone plant by the moon? The old timers all plant by signs, the signs have to be right before they will plant. The old timers also believe the soil has to be warm before they can plant seeds.

NOVA did a TV show on planting by the moon check it out. You can do a search and read all about it. To make a long story short...............

Plants do the majority of their growing in the dark. To have the best possible crop you can have your plants need to produce their fruit during the DARK of the moon. Each plant has its own life cycle some plants are 65 day crop while others and 120 day crops and many others in between. Plant your crop so it matures in the dark. A full moon interfers with the growing cycle of the plant.

Plant your crop so the rows run North and South to get maximum sun and the best crop. If you plant your rows East West the north side of the plants never get sun. East West rows means half the plant gets sun so half the plant has to do all the work to produce fruit. You can read about this online too.

[Dannyo]

I planted in North to South rows. This year is my first attempt at gardening and that just made sense to me. I grabed an old farmers almanac (spelling?) and realized I had no idea what it was talking about so I don't think I did the whole moon thing just right. However People have been planting by the moon sense long BC so I'd say it's safe to put some stock in that logic as well.

[2cents]

It doesn't matter which way you row is oriented, the plant only get direct sun from the east, south, and west sides. The majority of the north side of the plant is getting part direct and part indirect sun, actually so are the east and west sides.
Most things are so small it doesn't matter which way you run the rows.
I grew up next to a farm. He ran his rows east-west. The guy at the feed mill said that farmer had the best production of anyone in the area. But we always assumed it was the dirt.

[eshenry]

Never plant on the dark of the moon. Plant when the moon in fertile signs. I have always done this. My husband did not believe me and did his own thing....against my warnings and it never worked...until he started planting in the right signs.
Any one here ween a child or animal....try it in the signs, your life will be easier. (it works, I "weened" myself off cigs that way)

[Venomous_1]

I plant East-West as well. North-South doesn't work for me because taller plants will block the sun from shorter plants during periods of the day. With East-West planting that doesn't happen.

[jal_ut]

All of those things are old wives tales or superstition. You can disregard them all.

Plant when the soil and weather is right. Keep away from trees that shade your garden and the roots rob your garden of its nutrients. Tend to your soils fertility and you will have a great garden.

[applestar]

Oh, I don't know.... I don't think you can ENTIRELY discount the gravitational forces of the moon which makes the OCEAN tides rise and fall. How could they NOT affect the roots and the shoots? And when the moon is full, it's bright enough to cast sharp shadows, to read by, and probably in wavelengths that are not the same as the direct light of the sun.

I've only started researching about planting by the phases of the moon. The problem I found with it is that logistics for starting seeds to meet the expected last frost date, to harden them off, set them out, and to sow seeds outside, all while keeping an eye on the vagaries of the weather are complicated enough. When I look over my records for the past month, I see that some seeds were sown and some seedlings/starts were transplanted/planted out "at the right time" while others were either off or completely wrong. Presumably those that were done right have benefited, but I don't have a basis for comparison.

There are so many little details to factor in. I don't know if I'll ever get them all exactly right.

[hendi_alex]

I never pay attention to any of that stuff. A close friend used to always go by the moon signs. His gardens were always better than mine, but mine always produce more than we can eat. One minor detail, my site is hot, dry sand that dries almost completely from one day to the next. His site was deep black soil that retained moisture for several days after a rain or watering.

[elevenplants]

I plant by the signs and have for years. Unsure if that's why I have success, but I normally do. Planting in fertile signs (cancer, pisces, taurus, scorpio, etc.), and also by moon phase, I.e. plant root crops as the moon wanes from full to new, and above-ground crops and flowers as the moon waxes from new to full. There is a handy online almanack that I sometimes use here: [url]https://www.thealmanack.com/moonsign.htm[/url] A lot of people don't believe in this, but I know that the moon affects many things and am almost positive that growing plants is one of them! (As a test recently, I sowed spinach seed in a small area, during the waning moon and in Virgo, one of the most barren of signs. That was a couple of weeks ago, and although spinach normally pops up fairly quickly, I've seen one little plant up and no more.)

Rebecca

[hendi_alex]

That is the thing about anecdotal evidence, if a person plants on a certain day, there is an equal chance of the result being either better or worse than usual. When a person plants on a given day, there are at least dozens of variables at work, any one of which could affect the results. Just like religion, believing certainly can't hurt anything, and not believing can be a total disaster. Believing in planting by the signs couldn't possibly hurt anything, but not believing could lead to poor results. Still, this planting stuff smacks too much of astrology and such for my scientific mind, therefore is discounted. I'm thinking that in nature, most seeds get disbursed, and in the spring in a temperate climate when conditions of temperature, moisture, and perhaps day length are right, the seeds germinate. Don't believe that moon phase has any effect on the timing for any of this except perhaps some exotic species. I'm certainly not trying to convince anyone, one way or the other, just giving my personal thoughts on the matter.

[eshenry]

Of course the moon affects many things. One very vivid easily demonstrated exampe is the old wives tale...."dig a hole on the new moon, never enough soil to fill it in, dig a hole on the full moon, have dirt left over."

[Sweet Petunia]

https://www.thealmanack.com/moonsign.htm[/url] A
Rebecca

Thanks for the link!!!
I found this interesting too..
April Weather Lore
If it thunders on All Fools’ Day, it brings good crops of corn and hay.
A wet April, a dry June.
The dews of April and May make August and September gay.
If the first three days of April be foggy, there will be a flood in June.

[PeterMcC]

This is an interesting topic and one that certainly deserves scientific investigation. I have no experience of trying to grow with this technique (as this is really my first proper attempt at vegetable gardening) but tend to I agree with Alex, too many variables.

However, I certainly would not discount the possible effect moon cycles have on plants. I usually know when it is a full moon (without keeping track of the moon cycle) because of the ‘wired’ feeling I get on those days. ‘Wired’ or ‘energised’ is really the best explanation I can offer to describe the sensation…

It stands to reason that if the moon can affect me it can probably affect other vegetables too.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Ask any cop and he'll tell you he hates working a full moon; if us then why not plants? I am sure somebody needs a Masters thesis...

We are hardly in touch with our natural world as we used to be, so it is not surprising that our reliance on the natural world for forecasting has eroded in a like fashion. That said, phenological (in time to the blooms of other plants) dating is what I use for a lot of garden timing now, like putting corn gluten on the lawn when forsythia blooms (which times it perfectly to reduce crabgrass germination). With what Tom Friedmann calls "global weirding" messing up natural schedules as compared to our calendar timing, the natural world might end up being a gardeners best guide to when things get done...

My frost date is usually May 15 here in CT; I'll see what is blooming on our last frost this year... sounds scientific when you call it phenological dating, though

HG

[hendi_alex]

Sounds like a name you might use for a match making service. Next need to construct a set of phenological questions for the participants.

Phenological dating: science based match making service.

[Charlie MV]

I've lost all sense of moon phases. When we lived on the boat in Charleston, a full moon often put the tide in the middle of the road, it was hard to miss a full moon tide walking around a boat dock.

[2cents]

The government has been throwing money at all kinds of research over the last several decades. With the way universities receive grants and the professional grant writers out there, we all know this has already been research and research to death. I guarantee the issue of moon phases has been given tons-o-cash.
But, it is mysteriously quiet from the fed and universities.
Why do you think that is?

[The Helpful Gardener]

Based on when the flowers are blooming... I must be an evergreen ...

There is a lot of interest in biodynamics, which has you burying compost in a rams horn by the light of a full moon. One of my last colleagues was into this, so we studied it against standard organic practice for biological soil activity and it was a cipher; no difference at all... but biodynamics stresses good organic culture and I do think that's a good idea...

And there are likely lunar variances in plant growth; here's a white paper on just that topic, defending the lunar cycle theory put forth by Maria Thun, one of the early pioneers of biodynamics. While I don't claim to understand the math or draw the conclusion that rams horns and wands work, there does seem to be some support for this theory...

[url]https://www.biodynamic.org.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/Evidence_for_Lunar_Sideral__Rhythms_in_Crop_Yield_An_overview.pdf[/url]

HG

[Gary350]

I know there is some science to planting by the moon but I never do, I plant when the weather is right. My father and my relatives all plant by the moon. They all have a better garden than me, maybe I should pay more attention to the moon?

I do plant north/south rows I notice a difference compared to east/west rows especially plants that shade each other like a row of bush beans. An east/west row gets full sun only on the south side and top. North/south rows gets full sun on both sides and the top. A north/south row gets 1/3 more full sun than east/west rows. Do this experement line up a dozen soft drink cans touching each other in rows then use a flashlight and pretend your the sun. East/west rows NEVER gets full sun on the north side.

[jal_ut]

In another post I already said I don't plant by the moon.

Plant your crop so the rows run North and South to get maximum sun and the best crop. If you plant your rows East West the north side of the plants never get sun. East West rows means half the plant gets sun so half the plant has to do all the work to produce fruit. You can read about this online too.

I am sorry, I don't buy this either. If you care to watch the sun's movement you will see that in the spring and summer it comes up in the North East and sets in the North West. Mid day it is high overhead.

Another thing those who have the ability to observe will notice is, that plants have the ability to move their leaves so the sun falls on them.

Another myth.

[Royiah]

All this sounds so interesting! But I'm not all to sure about all of it. Even if you don't plant by the moon and someone you know does its in a totally different place. And no one place is the same. The reason they have better gardens could be a number of reasons. So I cant see just planting by the moon to be the sole reason why thiers is better than yours. It could be anything. Though I will admit it might have some affect. why I don't know.
I have heard of a flower that blooms when night comes. I believe that theres one that only blooms when the moons out. A friend told me about that one so I don't know if is true or not. Think its true? I think it would be cool to have a plant that does that.

[hendi_alex]

"The reason they have better gardens could be a number of reasons. "

Yes, I didn't mention one 'little' fact regarding my friend's garden, which was always better than mine is. He gardened in some of the richest, blackest dirt that I've seen, probably from decades of working compost into the soil. I work in some of the sandiest, nematode infested soil that I've seen. I have really great soil about 1/8 of a mile down the sandy hill from my home location. I may clear an area and try a garden there some time, but nothing could take the place of walking out the door and being right there at the garden, so I continue to tolerate my poor soil conditions and modify it as I can.

This thing about moon sign planting is just so counter to my science trained mind. I mean, in nature, how many seeds consult the moon as to the exact time that they drop to the soil or get agitated to near the soils surface such that germination gets started? In nature, I think that all of that is totally random. It is interesting to me, how much more vigorously any of my self seeded garden plants seem to grow. There is probably an adaptation that causes a great number of seeds to move to a favorable location and to get covered by an optimal amount of soil, so that plants out grow competitors.

[stryper]

I think economics would help out with this discussion.

Ceteris Paribus, all other things equal.

The internet is full of bogus claims about many topics. We all know this. To really get a sense of if the planting with the phases of the moon works or not you would have to hold everything else equal.

So you'd have to have the same soil, same plot size and composition, as best you can the same sunlight conditions, same watering, same fertilization etc.

With the only difference between the plots being when they were planted.

That said. Many of these type of things are simply the remnants of the past. If you think about it for a minute, when the ideas of planting with the phases of the moon came about, it was from a less technical people trying to make sense of their world.

They noticed, cause without light pollution the stars are awesome, that certain constellations were at certain points when it was auspicious to plant. So they would use those signs as a guide. Doesn't mean they always got it right, and as we all know mother nature can be a cranky B**** at times. But it was a fairly reliable source of information at a time when there weren't very many.

During those times, it probably made a significant difference. Now with the scientific understanding of biology, chemistry, and physics, we know the underlying functions behind plant growth. Thus, the planting by the moon probably doesn't make a significant difference anymore.

Also as to the ERs, cops, and such hating a full moon, part of that is expectation. The archetype is that the full moon brings out the crazies, werewolf legends anyone. So people expect to see it more on those days. So with that expectation people in a position to see the crazy take note of it more than they normal would. This is also why objective looks at the issue point out there is no difference between the full moon and any other day.

anyway just my thoughts.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, I used to work night shifts in psychiatric emergency services. People there always SWORE that more and crazier crazies came out in the full moon, but research does not support that. I think when a really far gone case came in (by chance) at the full moon, that was a significant event that everyone remembered and could cite for ever after. All the ordinary cases at the full moon and severe cases the rest of the time were non-remembered, non-events. Our mind has lots of filters for data!

[vebyrd36]

Well considering everything in nature can be swayed by the moons effects. I have worked as a nurse for many many years. I have witnessed the pull on peoples behavior many times. As to research, I think more needs to to be conducted on the subject.

[stryper]

of that I can only agree.